New Delhi: The health ministry Tuesday lauded Odisha for its anti-COVID measures, saying active use of IT, empowering local sarpanchs, and building skilled healthcare force through community participation have helped to keep check on the mortality rate due to COVID-19.
The Ministry has highlighted the use of IT, empowering sarpanches and building skilled healthcare force that made the state one of the least affected by the pandemic.
Making efficient use of IT, the state launched Sachetak app to protect co-morbid and senior citizens. Developed by Bhubaneswar Municipal Corporation (BMC), the mobile app kept these citizens under high scrutiny.
A member of the family of a sick person was registered as a caregiver. For those staying alone, a volunteer from the ward level Sachetak committee was identified as a caregiver. They were oriented on the ways to take care of the vulnerable people from the disease.
Besides, the state launched a free-of-charge telemedicine helpline service (14410) in addition to the 104-helpline. Equipped with an interactive voice response (IVR) module, it provided medical assistance with the help of over 300 medical professionals.
The empowerment of sarpanches for monitoring the spread of coronavirus at grassroot level was taken note of by the ministry. The Odisha government delegated powers of district collectors to sarpanches to help monitor the 14-day quarantine regulations, especially of the returning migrants.
The state government also focused on capacity building of medical personnel and trained 1.72 lakh health personnel to provide services to COVID-patients. The Ganjam district administration took the innovative step of training thousands of migrants in quarantine centres as community health workers in areas such as sanitation measures to tackle the rapid spread of the virus.
PNN/Agencies